Rep. Darrell Issa, Who Voted Against Amash Amendment, Now Wants To Bring It Back For Another Vote

from the flip-flopping dept

When the Amash Amendment to defund aspects of the NSA's spying was narrowly defeated, one of the somewhat unfortunate no votes was Rep. Darrell Issa, who has proven to be really good on important tech issues. Of course, since that vote, there have been a series of increasingly stunning revelations about just how deep the NSA's surveillance efforts go, and quite a few Representatives have suggested that they were totally unaware of the extent of the surveillance. Others have suggested that if the Amash Amendment was voted on again today, the vote would be different.

In recent weeks, concerning reports have been made public about the scope and depth of
the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs and serious legal violations in
those programs. In particular, the recent declassification of a 2011 Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court (FISC) ruling has revealed that the Agency unlawfully gathered and held the
contents of emails for tens of thousands of Americans between 2008 and 2011. Additionally,
there are concerning allegations that officials at the NSA may have misrepresented to the FISC
the scope of a collection program conducted under Section 702 of the ISA Amendments Act.

Prior to earlier votes on the House floor on amendments to limit NSA intelligence
gathering programs, members of Congress were given assurances that there would be a
substantive legislative review of their scope and function. Now that it has been publicly
acknowledged that the communications of Americans were included in the NSA's data collection
program, likely violating their Fourth Amendment rights, Congress must respond in a manner
that both increases the transparency of the Agency's programs and reinforces the constitutional
protections of our citizens.

Now that the House has come back into session, I respectfully request that you move
legislation to the floor, including the language of the Amash Amendment that was narrowly
defeated on July 26, 2013 during debate on the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, as
quickly as possible. Government actions that violate the Constitution cannot be tolerated and
Congress must act to ensure the NSA and the rest of the intelligence community permanently
cease such acts and hold the appropriate individuals accountable.

This is a fairly surprising move. While there have been a number of other bills offered up in response to the NSA's activities, to have a highly visible member of Congress who voted against the Amash Amendment suddenly ask for it to be brought to the floor again suggests that the tiny majority that the NSA had in the House on this issue is long gone. It's also noteworthy that Issa directly notes that the NSA's actions "likely" violate the 4th Amendment. While plenty of people outside of Congress have been pointing this out, people inside Congress have mostly been tiptoeing around the Constitutional issue.

Certainly a worthy goal to dramatically cut NSA's funds (or just get rid of it - clearly it doesn't want to listen to the Constitution or Congress), but I urge Mr. Issa to strongly support the Repeal the Surveillance State Act, too.

While you're at the removal of funds for NSA I suggest that also the funds going to it through the black budget given the Pentagon also be severed. No funding means an end to it. Let's not kill the funding on the front porch and allow it to continue through the back door.

Once that is done it is time to look at removal of Alexander, Clapper, and all the other senior staff members.

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Yeah, well, not even that. In his justification he is holding that 702 may have been misrepresented. Since the Amash amendment only decreased the broadness of 215 specifically, it would seem that Issa either don't know the amendment or should have made different arguments. 702 would be completely untouched by the Amash amendment which makes an argument for Amash amendment based on 702 unsound.

although i appreciate that there is considerably more information available now than when the first vote took place, one of the people that aided the way the vote went was Pelosi. she voted against the motion then went running round like a headless chicken trying to get more on her side. maybe the vote will change this time around, if it happens but who honestly believes that the practices will stop? if the NSA ceases to be, either another agency will take the reins or another agency will be introduced and it will take the reins. there is going to be a continuation of this spying, this invasion of privacy and this trampling of freedom because the ones who are actually behind it will never have the guts to come forward and be held accountable. the ones that get the kickings are just the oil rags, there for this very purpose. they know that even if they lose their jobs, they wont be imprisoned and will continue to draw a fantastic wage that just seems to 'drop into the bank account every month'

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Response to: Hephaestus on Sep 10th, 2013 @ 4:03pm

You just need to wait. It's better when the information trickles out and the NSA/government respond with carefully crafted lies that are exposed in the revelations that come a week later. This is the most effective way to destroy any credibility the government might have had.

Government actions that violate the Constitution cannot be tolerated...

Great, does this mean that they're also going to repeal the indefinite detention provision of the NDAA? And the asset seizure laws which allow cops to take someone's property on the "suspicion" that it was or will be involved in a crime? How about the recent decision by the Supreme Court which says that a person not under arrest has no right to remain silent unless they specifically, verbally invoke that right?

Re: implausible deniability

You add nothing to the discussion except pejoratives and ad hominems. Obviously your omniscience exempts you from adducing any facts or evidence, or bothering with such time-wasters as framing arguments and using reason. All we learn from you is how easy it has become to assume the pose of the smug, cynical, condescending elitist. Repeat fifth and sixth grades, then come back to apologize. Now scoot, little man.